2016 Tartha cemetery containing four graves but only one headstone, that of James Halliday
The Tartha Graves
16 Aug 1874 James Halliday died at Tartha
Halliday lived on the neighbouring station, Bendee. In Aug 1874, while he was escorting his wife and mother to Dalby by buggy, he became ill and passed away at Tartha. He was a young Scotsman, born in 1840 at Castle Douglas in Kirkcudbrightshire. The current Tartha owners showed us the graveyard in 2016. Congratulations to the diligent person who has spent time and money restoring this isolated and rarely visited sandstone headstone.
Little consideration was given to the Halliday story prior to a 2024 review of Trove clippings collected after the Tartha visit. The relevance of the story of James Halliday's death to this website then became obvious.
After at least 40 years, the overgrown graveyard emerged from a forest of cactus in 1936, when it was stumbled upon by the Crown Land Commissioner, J.A.H. Fraser.
Halliday lived on the neighbouring station, Bendee. In Aug 1874, while he was escorting his wife and mother to Dalby by buggy, he became ill and passed away at Tartha. He was a young Scotsman, born in 1840 at Castle Douglas in Kirkcudbrightshire. The current Tartha owners showed us the graveyard in 2016. Congratulations to the diligent person who has spent time and money restoring this isolated and rarely visited sandstone headstone.
Little consideration was given to the Halliday story prior to a 2024 review of Trove clippings collected after the Tartha visit. The relevance of the story of James Halliday's death to this website then became obvious.
After at least 40 years, the overgrown graveyard emerged from a forest of cactus in 1936, when it was stumbled upon by the Crown Land Commissioner, J.A.H. Fraser.
A close-up view of James Halliday's headstone.
21 Feb 1936 Dalby Herald - report of the re-emergence of Halliday's grave
25 Feb 1936 Dalby Herald - "Interesting Information" by a "pioneer resident" in response to the article about the rediscovery of Halliday's grave
1874 James Halliday death certificate Part 1
1874 James Halliday death certificate Part 2
Comments on the "Interesting Information" and Halliday's death certificate
Q1. Who was the "pioneer resident of Dalby"?
A1.The "pioneer resident" was, without a shadow of a doubt, Clara Eversden. She was the single surviving witness to Halliday's death and burial 62 years earlier, apart from Halliday's widow who was living in NSW at the time. Her memory for exact detail - as in her Dalby Herald interview in 1924 - shone through once again. Well almost, the name of the locum doctor Anderson not Henderson - very close indeed over so many years.
Clara's presence in Dalby in Feb 1936 is confirmed by the newspaper article about the presentation of the famous Eversden Verge Watch to her third son, Malcolm Lewis McLaran.
There was one more minor error in the article: William Dockrill leased the property until 1899, not 1879. This was probably a transcription error or confusion by the reporter - Clara would not be out by 20 years. 1879 was the year Clara left Tartha to marry Donald McLaran.
Q2. Who was the "pioneer resident of the district" who read the burial Service?
A2. Clara does not name the man, but there are several candidates. One would be her father, Lewis Eversden, a confident public speaker and a God-fearing man who had already buried a wife and three children. Another would be William Dockrill who had been on the property for 23 years in 1874. The death certificate reveals the "undertaker" was a Thomas White and an Andrew Black was the chief witness. It is likely that Andrew Black was the "pioneer resident" but more research is required to be certain.
Q3. Was there a hotel at Tartha before 1866 and what became of it?
A3. Newspaper articles in Trove prove a hotel existed at Tartha - a reasonably large building with a detached house. The buildings, with earthen floors, probably became part of the homestead.
Q4. A short cut to Tartha?
A4. Today the journey to Tartha along the Moonie Highway is very direct. The route used in the latter half of the 19th century would have been the less direct "Old Moonie Highway", north of the Moonie River.
Q5. What became of James Halliday's family?
A5. See the article below, sent to newspapers after the initial articles about the grave's rediscovery. Amazingly, James Halliday's wife Charlotte Margaret Collier, born 1853 in Sydney, was still alive in 1936. A photo of her grave is below.
Q1. Who was the "pioneer resident of Dalby"?
A1.The "pioneer resident" was, without a shadow of a doubt, Clara Eversden. She was the single surviving witness to Halliday's death and burial 62 years earlier, apart from Halliday's widow who was living in NSW at the time. Her memory for exact detail - as in her Dalby Herald interview in 1924 - shone through once again. Well almost, the name of the locum doctor Anderson not Henderson - very close indeed over so many years.
Clara's presence in Dalby in Feb 1936 is confirmed by the newspaper article about the presentation of the famous Eversden Verge Watch to her third son, Malcolm Lewis McLaran.
There was one more minor error in the article: William Dockrill leased the property until 1899, not 1879. This was probably a transcription error or confusion by the reporter - Clara would not be out by 20 years. 1879 was the year Clara left Tartha to marry Donald McLaran.
Q2. Who was the "pioneer resident of the district" who read the burial Service?
A2. Clara does not name the man, but there are several candidates. One would be her father, Lewis Eversden, a confident public speaker and a God-fearing man who had already buried a wife and three children. Another would be William Dockrill who had been on the property for 23 years in 1874. The death certificate reveals the "undertaker" was a Thomas White and an Andrew Black was the chief witness. It is likely that Andrew Black was the "pioneer resident" but more research is required to be certain.
Q3. Was there a hotel at Tartha before 1866 and what became of it?
A3. Newspaper articles in Trove prove a hotel existed at Tartha - a reasonably large building with a detached house. The buildings, with earthen floors, probably became part of the homestead.
Q4. A short cut to Tartha?
A4. Today the journey to Tartha along the Moonie Highway is very direct. The route used in the latter half of the 19th century would have been the less direct "Old Moonie Highway", north of the Moonie River.
Q5. What became of James Halliday's family?
A5. See the article below, sent to newspapers after the initial articles about the grave's rediscovery. Amazingly, James Halliday's wife Charlotte Margaret Collier, born 1853 in Sydney, was still alive in 1936. A photo of her grave is below.
Mar 1936 Letter to newspaper
Dec 1938 The grave of Charlotte Margaret Wansbrough (formerly Halliday, nee Collier) at Castle Hill NSW